(April 27, 2019)

Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China

Dear Colleagues,

Good afternoon. We are now moving to the third session of the meeting and discuss the theme of “Promoting Green and Sustainable Development to Implement UN 2030 Agenda”.

In 2015, heads of state and government, including myself, attended the UN Sustainable Development Summit, at which the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted, and 17 Sustainable Development Goals including “ending poverty in all its forms everywhere”were announced. This agenda champions international cooperation, and represents the newest international consensus on development. The Belt and Road Initiative fully matches the agenda in goals, principles and means of implementation, and the two can serve global development together. We can synergize the initiative with the implementation of the agenda, so as to fulfill the people's aspiration for a better life. China has three proposals in this regard:

First, we should assign a high priority in our Belt and Road cooperation to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and place Belt and Road cooperation within the framework of global development.

Second, we should take green as the base color in Belt and Road cooperation, and take a clean and low-carbon development path. This is a basic requirement for sustainable development. China's cooperation projects on Juncao with other Belt and Road countries via the UN are excellent examples of building a green Silk Road and promoting sustainable development.

Third, we should create a sound business environment to increase our internal driving forces for development.